Alabama strikes again: Second foreign autoworker has run-in with police

Something tells us this isn't what the Alabama legislature had in mind when it created a new anti-illegal immigration law. A Honda worker on temporary assignment in Alabama was recently ticketed in Talladega County at a checkpoint for not having an Alabama driver's license. The individual provided both a Japanese passport and an international driver's license, but still caught flak from local authorities. According to reports, the Honda employee hasn't been authorized to speak about the charges and has asked not to be named. The individual is currently working with authorities to find a satisfactory solution to the situation.

This is the second foreign autoworker that has run into trouble over the Alabama illegal immigration legislation. Last month, a German manager with Mercedes-Benz was arrested after he was stopped and failed to produce any ID beyond his German identification card. The issue was later resolved when a colleague provided the man's passport and a separate driver's license.

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"A Honda worker on temporary assignment in Alabama was recently ticketed in Talladega County at a checkpoint for not having an Alabama driver's license. The individual provided both a Japanese passport and an international driver's license,"
pretty sure you dont have to have an alabama driver's license to drive in alabama. Does that mean if get pulled over in alabama with my KY drivers license I'll be arrested too?

I can seethe outrage over the guy from Honda but the German didn`t have his ID with him . Try driving anywhere with out yours . I dont think the cops will say thats ok we will wait till you go get it .

[blocked]

No license from his home country, the international permit means nothing without it. It's not an immigration case, ticket would have been written in any state. I know, none of that's mentioned here... thanks Huff-po.

"The IDP is valid only when carried in conjunction with and acts as a translation of a drivers license."
..moron
See here:
http://www.aaa.com/vacation/idpfaqc.html?association=undefined&clb_id=undefined&secure=N

All you folks talking that it is a bad law. Just imagine if the federal government enforced the laws we have and all of the states actively check every person stopped about their immigration status. In about three to five years ther would be NO PROBLEM. You folks and your scare tactics about companies not wanting to locate or expand in Alabama. If every entity did their job there would be only a very tiny problem.

Yeah, and this lightweight 'journalist' didn't bother to tell us how many actual illegas have been caught - - so it's pretty clear that the journalistic effort is completely tilted toward illegals. Balderdash and piffle.

Where are all these people coming from? Is there a link to this from some political site or something? The facts are simple, the cop and state were right. It's not a immigration case, let it die already.
"An IDP supplements a valid government-issued license--it does not serve as a replacement for a license. If you are stopped by law enforcement, you will most likely be asked to produce both your IDP and your official driver's license."
http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Foreign_Visitors_Driving.shtml

You didn't read the quote from the federal site, did you? Wow. The man was stopped at a typical roadblock where they check license, registration, insurance, lights, and look for DUI's, and it turned out he didn't have a driver's license, all he had was the IDP. I'm not aware of any states that allow you to drive without a license, and the federal government even states on their site that you are supposed to carry your home country's license with your IDP. The man didn't have it, he was written a ticket, what part of that is "a direct result of Alabama's immigration law", or even an indirect result of the law. In fact, there is no link at all, this is simply NOT an immigration case, it's a case about a man without a driver's license.

From: http://dps.alabama.gov/Documents/Manuals/DriverLicenseManual.pdf
Under "AN ALABAMA DRIVER LICENSE IS NOT REQUIRED
FOR THESE PEOPLE" (page 5)
"A resident at least 16 years old who has in his immediate possession a valid
driver license issued to him in his home state or country..."
And from the article above:
"A Honda worker on temporary assignment in Alabama was recently ticketed in Talladega County at a
checkpoint for not having an Alabama driver's license. The individual provided both a Japanese passport
and an international driver's license"
So, the facts are indeed simple, but they aren't at all what you attest to.

You also misinterpreted the information provided in the link that you supplied.
When it says an "An IDP supplements a valid government-issued license" it means ANY government issued license, not just one issued by any of the states in the US. This of course includes an international license issued by Japan.

Once again the press is making mountains out of molehills, and creating controversy where none exists because it doesn't like a specific piece of legislation. The man was not arrested for being an illegal alien, he was ticketed for not having a valid drivers license. An international drivers license is normally accepted in the US, however, such a document is acceptable at the discretion of local law enforcement. I think this ticket speaks more to the economy than illegal aliens. Local police are issuing spurious tickets all over the US in an attempt to generate revenue for their municipalities, counties and states. Tickets are simply a tax increase that deosn't require additional legislation. That's the real story here.

Acceptance of an international license is not discretionary, however the article fails to indicate if the driver also presented his Japanese license as required. The internation license supplements the license issued by the home country. In some states various foreign nation licenses are valid without an accompanying international license.